Chinese cities to test BeiDou navigation system

Chinese cities are going to test on a large scale the application of the BeiDou satellite navigation system, a competitor to the GPS developed by the United States. The pilot project will designate a series of locations to demonstrate the use of BeiDou in mass consumption activities, manufacturing and emerging sectors such as the Industrial Internet and Artificial Intelligence (AI), according to a statement from China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

In an effort to strengthen various sectors of activity relying on the BeiDou system, China aims to develop a robust ecosystem, according to the government announcement, which cites the three areas on which the project will focus: mass consumption, production and integrated innovation.

In the field of mass consumption, the cities participating in the pilot project will work with smartphones, wearable devices, tablets, shared travel solutions and low-altitude unmanned aerial vehicles. Companies will be encouraged to develop and manufacture products with BeiDou systems and continuously improve their capabilities.

In the field of industrial production, the pilot cities will apply the BeiDou system in key areas such as automobiles, ships, aircraft and robots. Local governments should encourage the development of platforms related to the Internet of Vehicles and Smart Grids and expand the proportion of commercial and passenger vehicles equipped with the BeiDou system.

In the field of integrated innovation, new scenarios for ‘BeiDou Plus’ applications will be explored. Innovative applications will be promoted in emerging sectors of activity, such as the Internet of Vehicles, Internet of Things, Industrial Internet and AI.

According to the announcement, these initiatives will facilitate the deeper integration of BeiDou applications with new scenarios such as smart cities, smart transport, smart logistics, smart navigation and precision agriculture.

Navigating the BeiDou system

The BeiDou Satellite Navigation System (BDS) was developed and is operated by China to meet the demands of national security and the country’s economic and social development. It provides high-precision positioning, navigation and timing services and has been used in the areas of transport, agriculture, fishing, hydrological monitoring, weather forecasting, communications, among other fields.

China claims that ‘BDS was developed by China, but is dedicated to the world’ and is committed to sharing the results of the technology with other countries in order to promote the global development of satellite navigation. However, it is seen as the main Chinese response to the dominance of GPS, developed by the United States, but also to other systems such as Russia’s GLONASS and Europe’s Galileo. The competition between BDS and GPS is yet another stage on which the global influence and power of China and the United States is debated. Such is the rivalry in this field that the US National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing Systems Advisory Board (PNTAB) has already warned that GPS resources are currently far inferior to those of BeiDou and that the country should regain the lead in the next decade.